Source: Phillies will pursue Japanese launcher Yusei Kikuchi



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CARLSBAD, Calif. – The baseball season is picking up with the start of general manager meetings on Tuesday.

Phillies General Manager Matt Klentak is here for another two good months. The 2018 Phillies led the National League East in early August and suffered a monumental collapse en route to a sixth consecutive season of defeats.

The Phillies will be in the headlines all winter because they've gone from rebuilding to winning, they have a lot of money and they're committed to improving now. They are looking for Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, the two megastars on the free agent market, and would like to land one. Signing both is unrealistic, as the Phillies have future jobs to consider and future free agent markets, and club president Andy MacPhail has said. Nevertheless, it is still believed that the Phillies will sign both, even if it will not happen.

It is simplistic to say that Klentak is looking for two more good months. Obviously, the Phillies need more than that to be a sustainable winner. But for four months, the launch took the 2018 Phillies. (Their runners placed sixth in the major leagues with a 3.70 ERA throughout the first week of August and recorded a 5-ppg. , 18 the rest of the way).

That's why improving the pitching pitch is a part of Klentak's off-season task list. Machado / Harper-Mania has just shaded it.

The Phillies were willing to part with young talent to acquire Machado before he left for the Dodgers in July. They are always ready to part with young talent and this could now start pitching.

Two names to watch during GM meetings:

Robbie Ray of the Diamondbacks.

James Paxton of the Mariners.

Both are left-handed. Both still have two years of control. Both are said to be available. And both would call the Phillies.

Paxton, 30, battled injuries during his career, but his equipment is electric when he is in good health. He showed a non-hitter position in 2018. Klentak had previously worked for Seattle general manager Jerry DiPoto in Anaheim and the two are very close. Could this facilitate an agreement? Stay tuned.

Ray, 27, is a guy the Phillies have loved for a long time. His name was launched last winter.

Another name to watch is Michael Fulmer of the Tigers. The Phillies searched the right-hander this summer, but it is unclear whether the Tigers will sell him badly after a disappointing knee injury in 2018 that required surgery. Nevertheless, Fulmer still has four years of control and could well adapt if the Tigers seek to move him. And the Yankees are committed to exchanging Sonny Gray so that he is also a name to watch.

The Phillies will also be on the highest weapons free agents, especially Patrick Corbin, J.A. Happ, Dallas Keuchel and others.

While Machado and Harper get the bulk of the rumor, do not forget to start throwing and need the Phillies.

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